Happy With His 87 Rating, Derrick White Describes What He Does While Playing NBA 2K

Even though we may not see a huge jump in terms of graphics or gameplay in NBA 2K, it still manages to generate a lot of excitement with every new edition.  With NBA 2k26 dropping in less than a couple of weeks, that excitement has begun to peak again, especially with everyone wondering what certain athletes are going to be rated.

It should be noted that these ratings are nowhere close to accurate in matters of a player’s abilities, but as things go, they do tend to create a lot of chatter on social media, and basketball stars themselves aren’t immune to it. Unless, of course, you are Boston Celtics shooting guard Derrick White.

That said, he sat comfortably at 86 at the beginning of 2K25 last year. So there’s not a lot to be upset about there. He was interestingly moved up to 87 by the end of the season, and it was announced that he would be starting off in 2K26 with the same rating.

“Not bad, I will take it,” White said on the White Noise podcast a couple of days ago. White believes people are always upset about their 2k ratings, so he is just going to take it as it is and just be happy playing the new game. “But I remember, early in my career, I was frustrated by it, and you look who’s around you and think, ‘he’s better than…’ and I am sure there are people doing the same thing to me, so I will take the 87, appreciate it,” White added.

And is he going to play the game as himself? Well, that’s a bit tricky considering he might not even play it. “2k? Probably won’t play it, but I do appreciate it and it really is just cool to be a part of the game and just to have your own character or whatever it is, that we didn’t make up ourselves,” the Celtics star said, chuckling.

Well, he might not hold a really high opinion of the game itself, but White has been part of its development process. “That was awesome, I was so excited. You kind of had to go in there. They just do a face scan and try to get as accurate as they can get.” Of course, this was a few years ago, and this being his first experience of being involved in anything like this, White couldn’t wait for it. After all, he wasn’t just going to play the game but also be in it.

If you think about it, that’s kind of awesome! Besides, when he does play the game sometimes, all he really does is pass the ball to himself, dribble fast, and launch shots. By his own admission, it is a rather poor strategy and he loses a lot.

After playing pro-ball for so long, White has moved on from playing basketball during his spare time. By his admission, White prefers to play other sports games like NHL or Madden, after having given up on shooting games.